Craters of the Moon

Laura and I made our way south to Idaho on Friday afternoon. We decided we needed to visit one more location with our National Parks Pass before it expires on August 1. We really got our money's worth from it. We bought it last summer for $50 on our trip to Glacier National Park when Andy & Amber came to visit us, then used it again when my parents came to visit us three weeks later. By then, we had already matched the price just for two visits to the park! Then, we went to Yellowstone to hike in the back country (+ $25). Followed by our spring break trip to San Francisco where we visited the Maritime Museum (+ $10 each = $20). On that same trip we visited Muir Woods (+ $3 each = $6). On our trip to Nebraska a month ago we traveled through Yellowstone once again (+ $25) and finally our trip to Craters of the Moon (+ $8). All totalled we would have spent $134, so we seem to have done quite well.

As far as our trip, we had a great time. We camped out in the campground on Friday and Saturday night and left for home early Sunday morning. Saturday was a busy day of hiking and add on top of that the heat, and we found ourselves quite tired by the end of the day. We hiked somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 miles, but we did find time for a mid-afternoon nap to relax from the heat. Here's some pictures from the trip:

Ground squirrel on the rocks at our campsite.

We found our first cave of the day! It was a tight fit getting in.......but it was a tighter fit getting out! We found a different way out, and it required some crawling.
VICTORY!As we came out of the caves a Violet Green Swallow perched on a fence post for me to take a picture of. I actually had to change batteries in the camera and I only managed to get this one shot, but I was amazed it sat as long as it did.A little closer

On our walk to Tree Molds - the lava field goes on and on!Tree molds are formed when lava flows around a tree. Eventually the tree rots away and all that is left is a hole in the lava where the tree was. Here I am standing in a mold.Here's a mold where the tree fell while the lava was still cooling. Notice the indentions from the bark!Climbing to the top of the cinder cone.The view from on top of the cinder cone.The butte is about 25 miles east of the cinder cone - lava separates them.Exploring more caves in the afternoon. It was getting hot so the ice in the caves was a nice retreat. Here's Laura standing at the entrance of Beauty Cave. We walked to the very end of the cave. It was pitch black when we turned our lights off! I had my 'night vision' eyes going so I could see. HA!The sunset wasn't too bad either.

We made it back to Missoula around 3:00 p.m. and went to meet a friend as he traveled back to Seattle from Cody, WY. We made our way home after 720 miles and took a much needed shower! Tomorrow I will try to post some pictures from our return trip to Missoula. We stumbled upon a ghost town while we were geocaching our way home, and as usual, I had to take a bunch of pictures. Until again

-=Nolan=-